flyinglentris
Disabled and Retired Veteran
A Measuring Cup
Something Indispensible (when posting recipes)
- Thread starter flyinglentris
- Start date
MrsDangermouse
Guru
Not really......the measurements in most of my recipes use weight for dry ingredients and ml for wet ones.
I would say that a set of scales and a measuring jug marked in ml or fl oz are more essential.
Measurements in cups are something that I've only really seen in American recipes. I do have a set of American measuring cups but I don't use them very often as I don't find them all that accurate.
Lots of American recipes use cup measures which I rather like because its much easier than weighing everything - so yes I'd find it useful. I do have a cup measure and use it quite a lot for American recipes as it saves me translating the cups into weights or liquid measures.
Kake Lover
Veteran
I'm completely the opposite, I hate measuring in cups! It's so messy and inconsistent compared to using scales. I always weigh everything into the bowl I'm using. There's an old thread somewhere about my frustrations!
epicuric
Legendary Member
I bought James Martin's new American cook book a few weeks ago. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised to find that all the recipes used Imperial measures. Cups I can cope with but pounds and ounces lead to a bit of head scratching, especially when using digital scales.
Kake Lover
Veteran
I have some digital scales but they can be set to imperial or metric.
MrsDangermouse
Guru
Mine too - one button for on/tare and one button to change between metric and imperial. I thought all digital scales could do this? If not then I'm really glad @epicuric mentioned it because I'd never have thought to check that before buying!
epicuric
Legendary Member
Yes, mine do too. The trouble I have (and its the same with digital timers) is when it comes to fractions. Displayed as 1.5 on the scale - is that 1 1/2lbs or 1lb 5oz? I can figure it out but I have to stop and think it through. Metric doesn't give such headaches!
CraigC
Guru
The scale we have is also dual scale. The imperial measurement gives weight in pounds and ounces. My problem with the metric side is that it doesn't carry the grams out far enough after the "." 
We by salts to make our own mineral water and need more precise measurements.
Off Topic.
The other thing is knowing how to read the correct scale. I service breathing gas production equipment. The main part of my service is Fire Stations. After fixing a fill station, that we had to wait 5 weeks for a part, my boss calls me at 7:00 PM and told me the Chief said the fill station is leaking air out the back (safety relief valve) and they can't fill past 3000 psi ( the bottles they fill are 4500 psi). I tested it before I left the station. So, I go back the next day (80 miles one way). No one home, so I had to get a lady from the Admin building to let me in. I know the folks in the Admin building could here me
. I called the Chief and asked him if his guys that use the fill station know the difference between bar and psi? The idiot that reported the malfunction was reading the wrong scale on the gauge, thinking that 300 bar was 3000 psi, instead of the 4500 psi on the other scale. When he adjusted the regulator higher, the safety (set for 4700 psi) started relieving. His reply after realizing that nothing was actually wrong and it was operator error, "After all you are dealing with firefighters".
I have heard this so many times from Chiefs, Captains and LTs.
We by salts to make our own mineral water and need more precise measurements. Off Topic.
The other thing is knowing how to read the correct scale. I service breathing gas production equipment. The main part of my service is Fire Stations. After fixing a fill station, that we had to wait 5 weeks for a part, my boss calls me at 7:00 PM and told me the Chief said the fill station is leaking air out the back (safety relief valve) and they can't fill past 3000 psi ( the bottles they fill are 4500 psi). I tested it before I left the station. So, I go back the next day (80 miles one way). No one home, so I had to get a lady from the Admin building to let me in. I know the folks in the Admin building could here me
. I called the Chief and asked him if his guys that use the fill station know the difference between bar and psi? The idiot that reported the malfunction was reading the wrong scale on the gauge, thinking that 300 bar was 3000 psi, instead of the 4500 psi on the other scale. When he adjusted the regulator higher, the safety (set for 4700 psi) started relieving. His reply after realizing that nothing was actually wrong and it was operator error, "After all you are dealing with firefighters".I have heard this so many times from Chiefs, Captains and LTs.
MrsDangermouse
Guru
Your scales express fractions of a lb as a decimal? I agree that is strange (and confusing!) When I change mine to imperial they display lbs, oz, and fraction of an oz:
As you can see they're getting a bit battered now so I keep thinking about getting some new ones so this thread has been really useful - I'll make sure to check the display before buying any!
epicuric
Legendary Member
Totally off topic here, but I would be very interested in hearing more about this. We have stopped buying bottled water, and whilst I don't have a problem drinking our tap water, I really miss carbonated water. I was looking at Soda Stream machines earlier with a view to making our own, but I didn't buy one because the slight salty taste would be missing. What salts do you use, and do you carbonate the water as well?
CraigC
Guru
We are addicted to San Pellegrino and were buying several cases every couple of weeks. Even at the wholesale place we shop at (Restaurant Depot), it was getting expensive. We bought a Soda Stream. Karen will have to chime in on the salts we use. The tonic water syrup isn't bad either, especially when mixed with gin and lime juice.
My scales scan be switched to imperial. But beware of directly translating American pounds and pints - they are not the same as UK pounds and pints. So - is James Martin using UK or American imperial measures?
Now I just checked this and found a website that says they are the same - not sure where I got this idea from that they were different but I'm sure I read it somewhere.
medtran49
Forum GOD!
We were buying this for San Pellegrino.
https://www.amazon.com/Burton-Water-Salts-1-lb/dp/B0064OGFXW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
And then i found this site, downloaded the Excel spreadsheet and started mixing the salts. I was able to buy them off amazon. I've been making up enough for 100 L at a time. https://blog.khymos.org/2012/01/04/mineral-waters-a-la-carte/
BTW, some of the salts come in little spheres or fairly large crystals. You have to run them through a spice grinder. And, yes we carbonate the water, then add the salts, which can be interesting with the reaction you get. Got to be quick getting the cap on.
https://www.amazon.com/Burton-Water-Salts-1-lb/dp/B0064OGFXW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
And then i found this site, downloaded the Excel spreadsheet and started mixing the salts. I was able to buy them off amazon. I've been making up enough for 100 L at a time. https://blog.khymos.org/2012/01/04/mineral-waters-a-la-carte/
BTW, some of the salts come in little spheres or fairly large crystals. You have to run them through a spice grinder. And, yes we carbonate the water, then add the salts, which can be interesting with the reaction you get. Got to be quick getting the cap on.
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I'm talking rubbish - I think the difference is only in American pints as in the Pub pint.